Mixed Media May ~ My interview online

Wow! I cannot believe we are in June already! I am not complaining as I LOVE winter. Permission to stay inside on rainy days; creating to my hearts content, without worrying that I might be missing out on something outdoors = BLISS!

So, I had completely forgotten to blog about my first foray into online interviewing! I was fortunate enough to be one of the mixed media artists to be interviewed on my art style, creative process, inspirers, inspiration and fave art supplies; on the annual Mixed Media May blog run by the lovely Cindy Jones Lantier. It’s my first online publication and I am so excited that I took that step.

Thanks Renee! Well, a family friend gifted me a huge blank canvas upon the arrival of my youngest child (now aged 4). Our friend is a school teacher and is very crafty and creative person herself. She emailed me instructions and a photograph of a canvas she did of her children’s feet and hand prints and their birthdays painted in large numbers next to each child’s hand/foot prints. She knew that I had painted on and off and hadn’t done any painting for quite a few years. She truly gave me a gift, however the canvas sat leaning on a wall for almost 1 year. One day I looked at it and said, right! I am going to start! However, instead of doing the hand/foot prints, I got very ambitious and decided to do a fun, whimsy family portrait of the whole family, painted in the child-like, naive style of painting that I like/admire. Well, I painted everything, my husband, myself, the beach and foreground and my sons, but didn’t paint their faces…they are still not done! What happened was that I then went off on a tangent. The painting bug hit because I had picked up a paintbrush once again and I felt compelled to start many and several new canvases at once. In the almost 3 years since; I have not completed that painting lol! However, I have been looking at it a lot and it is bugging me to now get finished. The only thing is that my style and technique has changed so much over the years, that once I start on it again, it will likely get a complete over haul!! Thanks very much for asking about it…it’s made me think I need to now finish it lol! 🙂

Love reading your online interview. It seems that a lot of us (women, especially) have been guided to seek degrees and / or work in non-creative fields. All with good intentions, of course, since an employed Scientist can probably rely on being able to put food on the table for a family much better than an artist struggling to get their work “out there.” I can see that you tend to lean towards softer colors in your work. Have you ever considered bolder colors? Why do certain colors draw your interest more than others? As always, I’m curious. Great work here, Tanya!

Thanks very much Robin. Yes, I think security of income is the main driver for choosing conventional and ‘safe’ fields of work. It’s a catch-22 though, because once you give yourself permission to delve into your creativity, your creativity then becomes the tool to ‘create’ new fields of work and endeavours that you might not have thought of or thought possible before. The key really is, I think, to honour yourself enough to first see and recognise what is your passion, what lights you up and then go do it…everything else works itself out in the end. I am intrigued too, by colour and colour choice. I have definite preferences. I do not like washed out, dull, flat colours like browns and oranges or yellow and I also have a real resistance to using bright, bold yellows, oranges and reds. I don’t like light blue or navy as that was the colour of my school uniform. I am learning to trust myself with moderate use of black and like certain songs…various shades and tones of pinks, magenta, violet and teal, make me swoon. It’s a visceral reaction…not like an orgasm, but more like a gut lurch in a good way that reaches up and tickles my heart and activates my emotions. I LOVE that colour can do that and I LOVE hearing from people who view my art what their reactions are…completely intriguing. I have a desire to get to know white a bit more. I feel it gives me a sense of calm, peace, orderliness, being organised, soft and feminine. I want to paint this way with lots of soft pastels, and white washes however the hot pinks, lime greens and purples always call out to me from the shelf. So I just go with it. I know that as I keep learning I will experiment more. Thanks for your interest 🙂